Good: 70 year Old Man Shoots and Kills Burglar

This is a discussion on Good: 70 year Old Man Shoots and Kills Burglar within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Tampa Palms man shoots and kills home intruder
By Kim Wilmath, Times Staff Writer
Published Monday, July 13, 2009
TAMPA — The man who shot ...

Good: 70 year Old Man Shoots and Kills Burglar

TAMPA — The man who shot and killed another man who was apparently trying to break into his New Tampa apartment Sunday night has been identified as 72-year-old Marcos Antonio Trujillo, police said.

Around 9:30 p.m., officers went to 6103 Coral Bay Road in Tampa (map below), where they found Carlos Humberto Ibanez Arias, 37, shot in the upper body. Police found Arias, of 16217 Compton Heights Place, on the ground. They tried but failed to resuscitate him, authorities said.

It's unclear how, or if, Arias broke into the first-floor unit. The apartment's screened-in porch was intact Monday morning. "I never said he came in anywhere," said Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis.

Neighbor Les Travis, 32, said he was relaxing on his patio when he heard six shots. There were two quick shots, followed by four more, he said. But he thought they were firecrackers and didn't investigate.

The shooting was in a quiet apartment complex off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard called Compton Place at Tampa Palms. It's gated but the gates were open Monday morning and there is no guardhouse.

Neighbors called the complex a safe place where most people keep to themselves.

"I've lived here for two years,'' Travis said. "Nothing happens.'' That's why he dismissed the noise as fireworks leftover from the Fourth of July, he said.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the shooting. Trujillo called police to say he shot someone who was trying to break into his home. "Homicide detectives are working with the State Attorney's Office to determine if the shooting was justified," Davis said.

A man who answered the door at the address declined to comment, saying police and his attorney advised him not to discuss the shooting.

Tampa Police detectives said they don't expect the investigation to be complete until next week.

According to the most recent public records available, Trujillo has a concealed weapons permit that expires in 2010. The state stopped making those records public after 2006.